UGA Beat Writer

Another young and talented defensive player was booted from the Georgia football team on Wednesday afternoon.

Defensive lineman Jonathan Taylor became the third dismissal off the unit this offseason when the school announced about three hours after he bonded out of the Clarke County Jail that he was kicked off the team.

Taylor is charged with felony aggravated assault/family violence.

Police allege the redshirt sophomore choked and struck his girlfriend several times with a closed fist after an argument in a Georgia residence hall room early Tuesday morning. He was arrested by UGA police soon after following an investigation that started with a call from a third party.

Taylor was released on a $5,000 bond at 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Clarke County jail’s online booking report, after spending the night in jail.

The Millen, Ga., native met with Georgia coach Mark Richt after getting out of jail. The school later issued a two-sentence announcement of Taylor’s dismissal without any comment from Richt.

Taylor joins safeties Josh Harvey-Clemons and Tray Matthews in players shown the door this offseason after getting in off-field trouble.

Those two had already started for Georgia. Taylor had his own chance to be a frontline player in the seasons to come.

Taylor was one of four players arrested in March on misdemeanor charges of theft by deception for twice cashing Georgia-issued stipend checks intended for meal payment. Taylor received pre-trial intervention in that case in June, but violated the terms of that with his second arrest.

The 6-foot-5, 340-pound Taylor was listed as a third-team nose guard on the preseason depth chart, but he had upside that was flashed in the 2013 G-Day game when he had seven tackles and two sacks.

“We’re going to find a way to get him on the field and make some plays,” then defensive coordinator Todd Grantham said.

Taylor had nine tackles and a sack in 10 games last season, including five tackles and a sack against Appalachian State. He saw some time with the starting defensive line this spring under new coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, including on G-Day.

Taylor was a four-star recruit out of Jenkins County High School, where he played with Georgia defensive lineman James DeLoach.

Now DeLoach is the only player remaining of four arrested in March on theft charges.

Matthews was kicked off the team after a classroom disturbance. Receiver Uriah LeMay left to transfer to Charlotte. And now Taylor is off the team.

DeLoach is not facing a game suspension.

Georgia’s top nose guards now are Chris Mayes and John Atkins.

Defensive line is considered an area of depth for the Bulldogs with the likes of Ray Drew, Sterling Bailey, Josh Dawson and Toby Johnson and incoming freshmen Lorenzo Carter and Lamont Gaillard.